Chelsea have the grit but Captain John Terry has the charm

John Terry was giving a television interview at the side of the pitch long after the final whistle when an uncomplimentary chorus echoed from a hundred or so Stoke stragglers enjoying the hospitality in an otherwise empty stand.

Instead of heading straight down the tunnel, the England captain trotted up the steps towards his tormentors and signed enough autographs to have the Stoke fans eating out of his hand.

It pretty much summed up Chelsea's trip to the Potteries: a potentially awkward encounter handled with the minimum of fuss and ending in a positive result. Luiz Felipe Scolari would undoubtedly settle for a similar outcome from Wednesday's hazardous Champions League venture into Transylvania to face CFR Cluj.

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For all the promise of bringing a more entertaining brand of football to Chelsea, Scolari knows there will be occasions like these when the quest for 'beautiful football' will be superseded by a need to win ugly.

And Chelsea certainly showed they can mix it on Saturday, returning to the top of the Barclays Premier League table with victory over an imposing Stoke side who had done their level best to strangle the life out of Liverpool in a goalless draw at Anfield a week earlier.

'It was a very tough afternoon but our players really battled through it and have shown qualities that a lot of people didn't think they had,' said Chelsea's assistant first-team coach Ray Wilkins.

'It's an important part of the game and once we deal with that and get the ball, we have some very good players.'

John Mikel Obi added: 'They just chuck the ball up there in the air for one of the guys to win it because they know they've got big targets. We knew we had to win challenges, which is what we did.'

It is a testament to the global - some would say surreal - appeal of the Premier League that Sugar Ray Leonard made an appearance in the home dressing-room before kick-off.

But even he could not inspire Stoke to punch above their weight again. 'He just came in and shook hands,' said Pulis.

'Sugar Ray is a hero of mine, although the players are too young to remember him.'

Stoke failed to make the most of the few set-pieces that came their way and were always struggling once Jose Bosingwa volleyed his first goal for Chelsea from a narrow angle - albeit with a bit if help from Stoke skipper Andy Griffin - nine minutes before half-time.

Florent Malouda rattled the bar for Chelsea and Obi cleared off the line at the other end as Ricardo Fuller's introduction briefly threatened to spark a Stoke revival, before substitute Nicolas Anelka settled it on 76 minutes after being gifted the ball by Leon Cort.

Having faced two of the Big Four, Pulis believes the main threat to champions Manchester United will come from Stamford Bridge.

'I think there's more goals in the Chelsea team, everywhere you look,' he said.

'They're miles in front of us at the moment and we have to accept that. But it's a point gained from the games against Liverpool and Chelsea. We haven't got murdered. You've got to be competitive wherever you go.'